Tuesday, November 02, 2004

Voting

This is going to be huge.

Normally I vote before I come to work. I leave the house around eight, drive down to Meeker Elementary, and vote. The polls have been open for about an hour by the time I get down there, and I’m usually the first voter in microscopic Rush District (we tell people we’re named after the rock band). I make small talk with the elderly gentleman who is the election monitor, and I vote. Kate votes in the afternoon – she’s usually number seven.

So this morning I go down. Nothing is really out of the ordinary except for a security guard keeping the kids clear of the doors to polling area. I sign my name, and – I’m number 20. Its eight AM for our tiny district, and I’m number 20. And as I sign in, two more people line up behind me. I’m a line!

So I voted – twenty-three small spaces to fill in. You know who I voted for – I did the endorsement thing. But I also voted for my college friend Keith, who just got back from Baghdad. And I voted for Doug’s daughter, who is still in Kuwait. And I voted for Tony, who may be shipped out any time.

I voted for my friends struggling to find work. I voted for friends with kids. I voted for one of my poker buddies and her wife. I voted for my D&D group on Thursday night. I voted for for my co-workers who are worried about their jobs.

I voted for a competant Republican for my conservative brother. I voted for a Governor strong in women’s issues for my super-mom sister. I voted for my father who is still waiting to get a flu shot. I voted for my mother who worries about her grandkids. I voted for my neices and nephews, my in-laws, relatives that would disagree with me and people that I have never met. I voted for the future.

All on one ballot. And when I left finished it, the line was longer in front of the Rush district table.